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Warrigal
Other names: Blue Mountain lion, Erskine Gap monster, Lithgow panther, Megalong monster, rock lion, waregal : Country reported: The warrigal is a cryptid felid reported from 's Blue Mountains.Shuker, Karl (1995) In Search of Prehistoric Survivors''Eberhart, George (2002) ''Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology Physical evidence Photographs L. A. Adams wrote that he had seen three photographs of what he called "warrigals", but "all were taken at so great a distance as to make them practically worthless for identification purposes". Tracks Description in Guide des Animaux Cachés (2009), seemingly based on a sketch by Rex Gilroy.]] The warrigal is described as a muscular lion-like animal witha 6 to 7 feet long body, 3 feet high at the shoulders. It is covered in light- to dark-brown fur and has a long-shaggy mane. Notably it is said to have large, protruding teeth. It leaves large, catlike tracks 5-6 inches long and 5 inches wide, and set 9.5 inches apart. Sightings 1889 In 1889, numbers of livestock were killed and eaten in Megalong Valley by an animal which lef large, cat-like tracks. 1937 In October 1937, a party reported having seen on White Dog Ridge "the decaying body of a huge animal like a dingo, but about 5 feet long" which had apparently fallen over a cliff known as Kelpie Rocks."Strange Animals In Blue Mountains" The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 October 1953 1945 In April 1945, a bushwalking party travelling down Mount Solitary's Korrowal Buttress claimed to have observed four warrigals moving across Cedar Valley with their binoculars. 1949 L. A. Adams wrote that he had come across badly mutilated cattle near Cox's River on two seperate occasions. 1953 1955 Blue Mountains residents and police carried out extensive searches of bushland between Wentworth Falls and the Blaxland-Glenbrook area in search of a large, shaggy-haired, lionlike animal. 1972 A warrigal-like creature was reported from the the Mulgoa district south of Penrith, close to the Blue Mountains' eastern escarpment, where it had supposedly been killing sheep. 1977 In 1977, a warrigal allegedly approached three young shooters in the Mulgoa district and fled only when the men fired at it. 1978 Rex Gilroy claimed to have discovered some days-old cat tracks in a cave near Medlow Bath in 1978. 1988 In 1988, some campers near Hampton, west of Katoomba, claimed to have seen a warrigal. There had been a string of cattle mutilations in the area at this time. 2001 In February 2001, two bushwalkers in the Wollangambie Wilderness claimed to have seen a 5-foot-long black animal perched on a tree limb, feeding on a wallaby. Theories It has been suggested that the warrigals are escaped lions or other big cats, but Karl Shuker writes that he is sceptical of this because of the animal's longstanding history. Rex Gilroy proposed that the warrigal is a living marsupial lion (Thylacoleo carnifex), which had large and distinctive tusk-like teeth and which is also speculated to be the identity of the Queensland tiger. Shuker notes that, if the warrigal is a marsupial lion, there must be two surviving species, as the warrigal is markedly different to the Queensland tiger. A sketch of the warrigal made by Gilroy for a Psychic Australian article shows the animal with sabre teeth and flanges on its lower jaw. Both of these are features of Thylacosmilus, an extinct South American marsupial predator, but not of Thylacoleo.ShukerNature: MARSUPIAL SABRE-TOOTHS, QUEENSLAND TIGERS, BLUE MOUNTAINS LIONS, AND A MOST ELUSIVE CRYPTO-CUTTING Similar cryptids Do you think the exists? If so, what do you think the is? Myth, folklore, hoax, or otherwise made-up Mistaken identity Alien big cat Marsupial lion (Thylacoleo) *Australian big cats *The Queensland tiger Notes and references Category:Cryptids Category:Oceania Category:Australia Category:Felids Category:Theory: Living fossil - Marsupial lion